Paper drinking cup and manufacture of same



D60 w. E. SWIFT PAPER DRINKING CUP AND MANUFACTURE OF SAME Filed Feb. 19, 1930 Patented Dec. 19, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PAPER DRINKING CUP AND MANUFACTURE OF SAME Application February 19, 1930. Serial No. 429,765

2 Claims.

17,553, dated January 7, 1930.

Such a cup, in the form generally of a hollow wedge, tapering to a straight line fold at the bottom, possesses marked advantages, both in manufacture and in use, over the naturally-distended cup of truly conical form, as well as over a cup made from a sector-like blank which is folded flat in the process of manufacture, the latter requiring, of course, to be distended by hand before it can be filled.

The present invention contemplates a cup of the generally hollow wedge form shown by the aforesaid Dickerson Reissue Patent, but wherein the distension of the cup body, instead of being obtained by curling or rolling the blank, is obtained by creasing the blank. Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof, taken in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the blank from which my improved cup is made.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a form or mandrel that may be used in the manufacture of my improved cup to give it its hollow wedge-like 3o; shape.

Figs. 3 and 4 are perspective views illustrating successive stages in the manufacture of the cup of my invention.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the completed cup of my invention.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a modification of said cup.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures.

As shown in Fig. 1, the blank 1 is substantially sector-like in outline, having substantially straight side edges 2 and 3 constituting radii which are preferably slightly over 90 apart, and having a curved outer edge 4, which approximates, but does not necessarily follow, the arc of a circle whose center is at the intersection 5 of the extended edges 2 and 3. Said edges 2 and 3 terminate short of said intersection point 5, as shown; the construction being such that the ;central zone 6 of the smaller end of the blank has, in substantially symmetrical relation to the point 5, a convex tongue or tab '7, which projects slightly beyond the adjacent inner edges 8, 8 of the blank. Said edges 8, 8, substantially 5 Lat right angles to the side edges 2 and 3, preferably merge by smooth curves 9, 9 and 10, 10, respectively, into said side edges 2 and 3 and into the convex tongue '7.

According to my invention, the side edges 2 and 3, for the manufacture of the cup, are 0 brought into overlapping relation and are adhesively secured for the purpose of forming a seam, and in order to do this, one of said edges, here shown as the edge 2, has laid thereon a band of moist adhesive, as indicated at 11, following 5 which the material of the blank has imparted thereto, in any suitable way, a series of creases by which to overlap the edge 2 upon the edge 3. For example, by the use of a wedge-like form or mandrel 12, such as shown in Fig. 2, placed in overlying symmetrical relation to the central portion 6 of the blank, the projecting blank material on either side of said form or mandrel 12 may first be turned up substantially vertically, as shown in Fig. 3, by creasing on the lines 13, 13, corresponding to the edges 13', 13' of form 12; then, in succession, the upturned parts 2' and 3' have their outer portions turned inwardly, on the crease lines 14, 14, corresponding to the edges 14, 14 of the form 12,-these portions, 30' as shown in Fig. 4, overlapping the gummed edge 2 upon the opposite edge 3, to form the longitudinal center seam 15 of the partly completed cup.

The blank of the latter, in conformity with the shape of mandrel 12, has now been creased to the approximate form of a hollow four-sided wedge, i. e., two opposite substantially triangular sides 16, 16 formed by the intersections of the pairs of crease lines 13, 14 and 13, 14, and two opposite truncated sides 17 and 18, the former defined by the crease lines 13, 13 and embodying the central portion 6 of the blank, and the latter defined by the crease lines 14, 14 and containing the longitudinal center seam 15 of the cup.

The final operation in the manufacture of my improved cup, as shown in Fig. 5, is to produce a substantially straight edge fold 19 of the cup material corresponding to the edge 19 of the form 12, to provide the bottom closure of the cup; this line of fold 19 approximately connects the apexes 20, 20 of the opposite triangular sides 16, 16, and by means of the same, the tab 7 and the immediately adjacent blank portions along the edges 8, 8 are turned up and secured to the side or wall 18 of the cup body, as by means of suitable adhesive 21 deposited on the tab 7. I

This operation completes the manufacture of my improved cup, which is shown as a finished product in Fig. 5. Such a cup possesses all the advantages of nesting, facility of seizure and easy handling that characterize the cup of the aforesaid Dickerson reissue patent, and which has nonevof the disadvantages of the self-extended cup of truly conical form, nor of the flat undistended folded cups heretofore in use.

If desired, the cup construction of Fig. 5, by a slight modification made therein, either during or after its above described process of manufacture, can be adapted to substantially flat packing rather than nesting, as by the provision, as shown in Fig. 6, of reentrant longitudinal creases 22, 22, substantially bisecting the triangular sides 16 16'. This produces a substantially semi-distended cup which is susceptible of being packed flat, but which, on account of the inherent spring of the blank material, tends to distend itself when withdrawn from the pack, and thus affords a much greater facility for filling purposes than the ordinary fiatfolded cup.

I claim,

1. As a new article of manufacture, a paper drinking cup of normally partially open form, substantially rectangular in cross-section when open, and made from a one-piece sector-shaped blank, said cup decreasing in rectangular crosssection toward its lower end and terminating in a straight line bottom closure, the body of said cup having a plurality of longitudinal creases therein, converging toward the cup bottom, said creases defining substantially triangular end walls and substantially plane side walls, with the apexes of said triangular end walls at opposite ends of said bottom closure, said end walls having reentrant creases to permit collapse of said cup to a fiat condition.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a paper drinking cup of normally partially open form and made of a one-piece sector-shaped blank, the body of said cup terminating in a straight line bottom closure,.and having a plurality of intersecting creases defining substantially triangular endwalls and substantially plane side walls,

with the apexes of the end walls at opposite ends of the bottom closure, said end walls having reentrant creases substantially centrally thereof to permit collapse of the body to a substantially fiat condition, said creases passing through the apexes of said end walls.

WILLARD E. SWIFT. 

